[Satellite TODAY 10-06-09] Malaysia, a country with around 25 million people, has seen its pay-TV landscape dominated by DTH operator Astro All Asia Networks (Astro). However, its dominance is likely to be challenged in the next year when Telekom Malaysia  (TM), the country’s biggest telco, launches its IPTV service.
    TM Vice President Jeremy Kung said that after completing trials, TM likely will enter the Indonesian IPTV and high-speed broadband services market in the 2010 first quarter year. “We need to make sure that the combinations of services, content and quality is very high as we are looking to bundle IPTV and broadband services together for customers,” said Kung.
   Standing in the way of TM’s ambitious plans is Astro CEO Rohana Rozhan, who has led Astro to the top of pay-TV services in Indonesia and has been offering services via satellite for a number of years. Rozhan said her company has anticipated TM’s move and has ramped up its own offering to customers over the last two years. “Astro has introduced 35 channels and launched four new packages, including an on-demand service, all of which saw a healthy take up. Malaysian homes thus have an extremely healthy appetite for TV entertainment ranging from premium English language movies to vernacular programs,” she said.

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